Drag Is A Four Letter Word To Avoid In Digital Presentations

As a digital presenter, you can’t afford to get bogged down for any reason. If you do, you will lose attendees.

Faster, Upbeat Pace

The pace of your Webinar, teleseminar or virtual presentation must be faster than your traditional face-to-face presentation.

No, that doesn’t mean you talk faster. It just means that the tempo of your presentation should be more upbeat.

You can’t afford to bore your remote audience or they will click away from your presentation. Unfortunately, you have fewer tools and techniques to recapture their attention than you do in a face to face presentation.

The Hyperefficient Digital Presenter

As a digital presenter you want to be hyperefficient.

You must be super efficient with the time allotted for your presentation. It’s imperative that you streamline every aspect of your presentation.

The distractions for a remote attendee are too tempting and too numerous to let your presentation drag. As soon as the audience loses interest in what you are saying, their minds begin to wander. As their minds wander, it’s very easy for them to click their mouse and exit your presentation.

It takes more effort in a digital presentation to overcome a snafu and keep your audience from being sidetracked. In a face-to-face presentation, you can have your audience talk with each other or take a break when you encounter a snag. You don’t have that same ability with a digital presentation. So you want to get back on track quicker, if you want the remote audience to stay with you.

Eliminate The Immaterial

If the information is not pivotal to your point, eliminate it. If it does not strengthen your message remove it. If it doesn’t add sizzle, get rid of it.

Eliminate everything from the boat that doesn’t help keep it afloat. Your goal is to keep your presentation moving towards its destination.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Nothing is more important to your digital presentation than practice. Practicing your presentation will help your brain develop muscle memory needed to perform at the highest level.

Repeating your content and rehearsing your digital presentation skills–the right way–will foster confidence. Practice delivering your presentation out loud. Practice using the technology. If you have recording abilities, record a practice session and then review and critique it.

If you are presenting with others, arrange practice sessions for the team. Focus on the individual segments as well as the timing, the transitions and the handoffs. The team that practices together, presents better.

Manage The Clock

Many presenters, including digital presenters, get lost in their material. Start times, drop-dead endings and segments run late. The presenter’s internal clock is out of synch with real time.

Keep a timer on your screen to help you stay on time. If there is a team of presenters, determine how the lead presenter can signal other presenters about the time.

Ultimately, as a digital presenter, you want to respect your audience’s time. Start and end on time and you’ll develop a reputation of someone who keeps the presentation moving forward.

What tips do you have to share to keep your digital presentation moving? What’s your experience with a digital presentation that got bogged down and lost the audience? What didn’t work?

Comments

I have a question for you rather than a comment. It’s been drilled into our head how stories captivate our audience and help them to remember. Do you feel there still a place for stories in these streamlined presentations? Is it too much fluff or do you just make them shorter stories?

@Traci
Great question. Yes, I think storytelling, allegory and metaphors are all important to digital presentations. Think of the want-to-be comedian who takes way too long to get to the punch line! That’s what you want to avoid with storytelling online. If the setup takes too long, you’ll lose the viewer for sure. Find a way to streamline that story, keeping it relevant and within context and share!

Thanks for reading and commenting as always Traci. Break a leg with your upcoming presentation too.

Last Thursday I gave my first webinar ever. My marketing guy made me keep it to 15 minutes! That was tough but it really did help with keeping only the important stuff. It also helped me present at a quick pace because I wanted to be sure to cover everything I did feel was important. I also tried to have a slide for each point. There is nothing worse than watching a stagnant slide for what seems like forever. A visual backup that keeps changing and is relevant is key. I also included a log of real examples- screen shots of exactly what I wanted to showcase. No extra time trying to bounce around websites was needed. here is a link to the recorded on-demand session:

If you are interested:http://bit.ly/zDBigi
[Recorded Webcast] Growing Your Association with an Online Knowledge Center